This woman lost 8 stone after people on public transport mistakenly thought she was pregnant twice

It's polite for people on public transport to offer their seats to those who need them most - like old people or pregnant women, for example. But imagine the humiliation of being just 21 years of age, and being offered a seat because people assume you're pregnant when, actually, you're not.

That's exactly what happened to student Fay Marshall - twice. And it triggered her to stop comfort eating, and start doing something about the excess weight that was giving her so many self-confidence issues.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Slimming World

Fay, now 23, recalls having been overweight since she was a child. At her heaviest, she wore size 22 clothes but when these became too tight, she used hair ties to fasten them up as opposed to buying a size up. Her confidence was at rock bottom.

"It was a cycle, the bigger I got the less confident I was about going out with my friends so I’d stay in and secret eat instead," she said. Being mistaken for a pregnant woman twice in public only served to fuel the body image issues she had.

Slimming World

"Having to explain that I wasn’t actually pregnant was bad enough, but I also knew I probably wouldn’t fit in the seat they’d offered me anyway," Fay said. Describing how low she felt, she recalled: "I’d go to bed early, get up late and I didn’t really leave the house much at all. I hated looking at myself in photos and I was sick of never being able to get any nice clothes."

It might be something of a 'new year, new me' cliche, but one month after the mistaken pregnancy incidents, in January 2016, Fay decided to start afresh and joined Slimming World. Going along with her grandmother for moral support, the criminology and psychology student at Middlesex University, explained how she still felt terrified: "I was nervous and scared – I thought I’d be the biggest there."

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

But the regular meet-ups motivated Fay to stick to her healthy eating plan. She ditched the takeaways, of which she'd previously eaten about three a week, and learned how to cook. Following recipes enabled her to eat much healthier versions of the meals she loved, and the weight began to drop off.

SWNS

Now, instead of eating several slices of white toast with butter for breakfast, Fay will eat porridge oats with berries. She's much more balanced with her food groups, ensuring she eats enough proteins, healthy fats and complex carbs to give her body the energy and the nutrition it needs.

And she also started exercising in order to improve her health and fitness, making time for regular sessions at the gym as well as doing swimming and pilates. The motivation, it seems, has stuck; since January 2016 Fay has lost a staggering 8 stone 8 pounds, and she was even crowned Slimming World's 'Woman of the Year' this year.

Fay was given the award of Slimming World’s Woman of the Year

Slimming World

But it's not just the number on the scale that's important to Fay; it's how the whole process has made her feel.

"Before, whenever I walked into a room I would feel as though everyone was looking at me and thinking, 'wow, she’s a big girl!'. Now I can walk into any room standing up straight and with my head held high."

Cosmopolitan, Part of the Hearst UK Fashion & Beauty Network
Cosmopolitan participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.